Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran is in the race of his life, fighting to keep his seat in Washington while battling the perception that he has become too out of touch with his southern roots.

As he’s proven during the campaign, he’s willing to go to extremes to earn back that credibility, even if it means reaching out to some very niche constituencies. In a speech this week, Cochran recalled his boyhood days that were spent out in the rural fields, finding pecans and “doing indecent things with animals.”